gone

Recipes 

well i have a ceramic flat-top stove. the pot i bought is ceramic covered steel i think. when i bought the pot i noticed the sticker said not to be used with ceramic cooktops. i looked at the manual for my stove and it didnt mention anything like this.

ive already cooked two worts on the stove and had no problems. does anyone know of the potential problem this could cause? my pot holds enough for a three gallon boil.

zanemoseley

Recipes 

I has the potential for scratching the top. I too have a ceramic top stove and just bought a 5.5 stainless pot at Walmart which I love. With foam control drops I can safely boil a full 5 gallons on the stove. If you decide you like brewing enough I'd consider spending the $50 to upgrade soon.

Weezknight

Recipes 

I'm currently looking for a brewpot and I'm running into some similar problems. I've found some really good deals on SS and Enamel cookware. The first warning I see tells me that the cookware is not intended for ceramic/glass tops. I guess it's because of the scratching issue.

The 2nd problem, though, is that all of the ones I've found (even the $80 ones) have a warning that they should not be used over "High" heat. How are you supposed to get a boil going without using your stove set to high?

Is this warning just a CYA for the company, or do I need some sort of the $300 mega-pot to withstand the temperatures?

aidanpryde18

Recipes 

The issue with high heat is when people try to cook a small item over high heat. When there is not something to transfer the heat away from the burner, the metal in the pan can warp and crack. You do not have to worry about this as much if you are doing a large batch of liquid because it is transferring the heat effectively from the pot into the air.

Most of it is CYA to keep people from returning cookware as defective when it was their own stupid fault. Also, this is a big deal with non-stick as the coating can burn and smoke, which is toxic. I doubt your pan is non-stick, just an interesting tidbit.

Hope that makes sense, it did to me, but I'm weird.

nebben

Recipes 

One thing I noticed about the enamel covered steel pots was that they're heavier than stainless or aluminum versions. This plus five gallons of [nearly] boiling wort, and I would suspect that the glass surface of the range could be stressed somewhat due to the mass involved.

I know nothing from about enamel covered steel pots from experience. I do notice however that after doing 2x 2 gallon pots on my ceramic cooktop, my rangetop is extremely hot compared to when I'm steam canning or just making dinner. Perhaps the heat conductivity of the enamel covered steel is just so low that they don't recommend hitting them with the higher heat settings, as it will just possibly damage the range in a futile attempt to get the liquid in the pot really hot.

I'd say go for it and let us know how it goes! The struggles I had with even one of my 2 gallon pots on my glass/ceramic cooktop made the decision to migrate over to propane+turkey fryer that much easier. I'm hoping to do a first brew in that this weekend (with $59 in grain+adjuncts+yeast! GONNABESOMEGOODBEER!!).

rx_mike

Recipes 

nebben - did you run into problems just using a ceramic pot on the ceramic cook top or did you have problem with SS or aluminum?

Has anyone had success with ceramic cooktops?

macabra11

Recipes 

The words "Success" and "Ceramic Cooktop" should never be used in the same sentence. Unfortunately it is all I have to work with at this point. I do, however, use an all SS 30 quart pot. On the electric stove, it only takes me about 2,344,076 hours to get to a boil. I can't wait to get a Bayou Burner.

__________________
- macabra11
B - double E - double R - U - N

rx_mike

Recipes 

Ahh... yes, that is all I have at the moment too. It can be done though? I need to see some encouraging words

penguinfogel

Recipes 

Another problem people have had with large pots on flat cook tops is cracking the cook top due to the heat being dispursed outside of the burner area. I boil on a flat top with no problem. I use a 5 gal pot, and it takes me up to an hour to reach a boil. I eventually plan to switch over to propane though since it's not good to do long hot boils on a flat top and can wear the element out apparently, also who wants to wait an hour for only 4 gal of wort to boil? Flat tops would suck for all grain also.

zanemoseley

Recipes 

My flat top wasn't particularly expensive (about $700 at Lowes) and it will bring 5 gallons of 120F water to boil in about 25 minutes. I have also done 2 full length boils with 5 gallons and noticed no damage or bad signs from my cook top. I'm extremely happy with its performance and don't plan on going the propane route any time soon if ever. I will however be happy with that amount of boiling water and won't push my luck by trying any more liquid.